Journalist. Data @the_hindu | Past Chief of Bureau @xpresstn, @the_hindu, @infosys | நேற்று இல்லே நாளை இல்லே, எப்பவும் நான் ராஜா! | ⚖️
Chennai, India
Joined October 2009
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Pon Vasanth retweeted
Around 64.5 lakh potentially eligible voters may be missing from Karnataka’s final electoral rolls after SIR, with more than half of the shortfall among young people aged 18–29
Using age-wise population projections cited by officials, @pon_vasanth & I estimated that 5.19 crore people should be eligible to vote. But the final rolls have only 4.55 crore electors
Read: thehindu.com/data/karnataka-…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
Elector-to-population ratio released officially by Karnataka CEO shows under-enrolment of about 64.5 lakh electors, of whom roughly 38.41 lakh are in the 18 to 29 age group.
✍️@pon_vasanth and @rishitaakhanna
thehindu.com/data/karnataka-…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
Karnataka SIR: Of the 64.5 lakh voters potentially missing in the rolls, 38.41 lakh, or 59.5%, are in the 18-29 age group.
@pon_vasanth @rishitaakhanna
thehindu.com/data/karnataka-…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
The Election Commission has filed its reply in the Supreme Court to the petition on how the three-member Commission functions.
27 pages, approved by all three members. Its argument: every decision was unanimous, and a Commissioner’s note is a “suggestion,” not a decision.
Here’s what it addresses, and what it doesn’t.
🧵 (1/10)
Pon Vasanth retweeted
Friendly reminder: We all do this sometimes, but if you enjoy the work of a journalist you're reading, please do think twice before sharing a PDF/screenshot.
Consider instead sharing a quote with a direct article link. Subscription is what's going to keep journalism going!
Pon Vasanth retweeted
At least 61,059 Form-7 applications seeking the deletion of names from Karnataka’s electoral rolls were filed by election officials themselves, with not a single application mentioning a reason for the deletion, a mandatory requirement under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
✍️@pon_vasanth and @rishitaakhanna
thehindu.com/news/national/k…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
New investigation!
Data shows at least one instance of Indian-made shells making into Ukraine. Transactions also show that India could be helping Ukraine’s allies restore stockpiles using weapons mostly made with Russian tech
A small thread
Free link:
bloomberg.com/graphics/2026-…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
At least 61, 059 form 7 applications seeking deletion of names from Karnataka's electoral rolls were filed by the election officials themselves, with none of these forms citing reason for the deletion, a mandatory requirement under the Registration of Electors rule 1960.
Super story by @pon_vasanth and Rishita Khanna
Pon Vasanth retweeted
SIR: Over 61,000 Form-7, one third of the total, were filed in the names of EROs/AEROs in Karnataka, with none citing a reason for seeking deletion
More than 53,000 such forms were filed in just the last week of the window for the disposal of notices, which ended on Oct 22
In at least 26 constituencies, ERO/AEROs filed more Form-7 than voters or third parties
Read: thehindu.com/news/national/k…
Congratulations and wishing you and the team the very best @AntoJoseph sir!
Pon Vasanth retweeted
SIR: At least 37 people have filed Form-7 to delete their own names from Karnataka’s electoral rolls, saying they are “dead”
In another 334 pairs of cases, two people have filed forms declaring each other dead
Read: thehindu.com/news/cities/ban…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
Just the month before SIR started in Karnataka, more than 1.28 lakh Form-7 applications were filed between the announcement of the SIR on May 14 & the freezing of rolls on June 16
Of these, 2,254 were filed “in bulk” by just 112 people, seeking deletions even before SIR began
Read: thehindu.com/news/national/k…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
“Our neighbours say we will be sent to Bangladesh because we could not prove ourselves” Bengali workers in Bengaluru borrowed money to travel home for SIR hearings, lost wages & spent thousands, only to remain under adjudication
As the ECI begins its enrolment drive to add deleted voters, they still don’t know whether or when their names will be added back
Read: thehindu.com/news/cities/ban…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
For every 1,000 Muslim electors in Delhi's draft roll, 318 were flagged for “logical discrepancies”.
The corresponding figure for non-Muslim electors was 197 per 1,000.
@vrsrini @pon_vasanth
thehindu.com/data/muslims-di…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
The current rage in #India is over the process and apparent motives of the SIR, not resistance to electoral roll revision itself.
This important story by @vrsrini and @pon_vasanth in today's @the_hindu makes evident that the rage is far from misplaced
thehindu.com/data/muslims-di…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
Many of the "logical discrepancies" to exclude electors from voter rolls are illogical. In fact, they seem designed to exclude Muslims, for reasons that lack any constitutional basis, and entirely for political purposes. Fab work by my colleagues @vrsrini + @pon_vasanth!
Pon Vasanth retweeted
Muslims disproportionately flagged in Delhi SIR
Muslims, who form 13.6% of electors on Delhi’s draft roll, made up 20.3% of those flagged for ‘logical discrepancies’ and 30% of those flagged under five reasons indicative of family size by the Election Commission’s ERONET software.
The Hindu digitised Delhi’s draft SIR rolls, which had 97.54 lakh voters, of whom 33.12 lakh were flagged for notices by the ECI, to study patterns. The latter set included two distinct sets of electors: 13.79 lakh were flagged for being “Unmapped with Last SIR” and another 19.33 lakh for “logical discrepancies” based on eight reasons.
Read this important analysis by Pon Vasanth B. A. and Srinivasan Ramani in The Hindu (October 14, 2026):
thehindu.com/data/muslims-di…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
Muslims disproportionately flagged in Delhi SIR. Do read this revealing data dive by @vrsrini and @pon_vasanth , more proof the targeting deletion of voters as part of the SIR exercise
thehindu.com/data/muslims-di…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
Nearly 29,000 Form-7 seeking deletion of names from Karnataka’s electoral rolls are missing from the ECI records
The figures in the Karnataka CEO’s press releases never matched those on the CEO’s portal at any point
Even press releases show over 32,000 fewer Form 7 applications in Sept than in August 👇🏻
Read here: thehindu.com/news/national/k…
Pon Vasanth retweeted
Proud of @the_hindu’s Page 1, inside pages and online coverage of youth protests in Delhi against alleged misconduct of @ECISVEEP and draconian police crackdown. As we have recently seen across South Asia, governments ignore and suppress the voice of the youth at their own peril.
